Opinion Based Article #2 (opposing viewpoint)

Summary: This article is totally focused on the benefits that advertising has on a society. The author introduces advertising by providing a definition of what she thinks advertising really is. She states that advertising is the most comfortable way for people to be introduced to new ideas. This comfort is what makes advertising so effective in providing its benefits. One of the benefits advertising provides us is consumer protection. As a result of laws and regulation the author believes that advertising keeps its consumers protected against fraud or misinformation. Advertising also increases the awareness of flaws in a society. The author states that advertising is the best way to promote a cause. Ads discussing civil rights, natural disasters and even domestic violence all provide increased awareness and promote support for the cause. To conclude the article the author points out that while advertising is so effective in order for it work we must be aware and active to receive its benefits.

Analysis: The author starts the article by making a very crucial point that advertising is the most effective way to communicate ideas. This makes the importance of advertising an indisputable fact to start and gives her a strong base to argue for. However, It is very clear that this article is extremely biased and has no shortage of fallacious reasoning. Despite these issues it is not factually flawed in any way. The author provides specific examples of past advertisement and outlines their success to back up her conclusions. The author is also willing to point out that while advertising is great in theory it require participation in order to succeed. Meaning that while advertising can be designed to make a huge influence it is up to the people to make it work. This shows how the author despite her bias is utilizing critical thinking to form her opinion.

Response: This article provides me with the necessary opposing viewpoint for my topic. More so than most sources this article is totally convinced that advertising is a totally positive thing for society. Most articles are willing to concede to some dangers of advertising at lest however this one does not. Typically I would pass up a bias article but this one has very legitimate points I have not considered. I am very intrigued with the topic of consumer protection and how advertising affects that. The fact that consumers may not be protected would have a massive effect on a society. Also the specific examples used in the article are new to me and provided me with new research to do to better understand the field.

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One thought on “Opinion Based Article #2 (opposing viewpoint)”

I would have to disagree with the author that advertising is the best way to promote a cause. Once an issue is dramatized or symbolized via an advertisement it becomes an image. I think while images can be extremely effective, the image is often limited to a single page or if it’s a commercial, less than a minute. Characterizing a cause is often required to depict the issue in an ad. I think in this process of characterizing something we often lose sight of deeper cause-effect issues and we think that by simply looking at the ad or watching it we have done some sort of due diligence. If it yanks at our heart chains we want to “share” the ad on facebook, or other social media. How much does this do for the actual cause? I think sometimes these ads become our way to care from a distance…possibly a random reaction to your post but I definitely appreciate this contrasted view on advertising from the other articles. It’s unique enough to spark questions!